INDIANAPOLIS, Sept. 8 (Ticker) -- The WNBA title hopes of the Indiana
Fever took a shot to the head from the Connecticut Sun.

The effectiveness of All-Star Tamika Catchings was limited by a
mild concussion and the Fever never led in the second half of a
73-68 loss to the Connecticut Sun, who are one win away from
returning to the WNBA Finals.

Taj McWilliams-Franklin scored 24 points for the top-seeded Sun,
who grabbed Game 1 of the Eastern Conference finals and host
the next two games of the best-of-three series. Game 2 is
Saturday.

Catchings, Indiana's top scorer and rebounder and a WNBA MVP
candidate, left the game with 13:48 remaining in the first half.
She went to the floor and her head was fallen on by
Connecticut's Brooke Wyckoff.

The WNBA Defensive Player of the Year, Catchings did not return
until the second half. She was diagnosed with a mild concussion
and clearly was not herself, finishing with 10 points on 2-of-11
shooting.

"I was reaching for the ball and hit the floor," Catchings said.
"Somebody landed on top of me and hit the floor again. I got
up and knew something was wrong. My eyes ... my head was
ringing ... like someone turned out the lights, and I zoned."

Without Catchings as a threat, the Fever struggled to stay with
the Sun, who built a 45-40 lead behind 15 points from
McWilliams-Franklin. Connecticut pushed the margin to 12 points
early in the second half.

Indiana closed to 63-62 with 3:22 left on a 3-pointer by Kelly
Miller, who scored 14 points. But the Fever went more than
three minutes without a point as Tully Bevilaqua missed a
3-pointer and ran the baseline for a traveling violation.

"I had a couple of errors down the stretch that kept us from
getting shots," Bevilaqua said. "It is really hurting me."

With the shot clock running down, Katie Douglas banked in a
3-pointer from the left wing to give the Sun a 68-62 lead with
30 seconds left.

"What's the saying - better to be lucky than good?" said
McWilliams-Franklin. "Hey, we'll take it."